Mental health and social adjustment in young refugee children 31/2 years after their arrival in Sweden

Objective: To investigate the relative importance of various risk and prote ctive factors for mental health and social adjustment in young refugee chil dren. Method: Of 50 Iranian refugee preschool children who were first evalu ated 12 months after arriving in Sweden, 39 were reevaluated in a follow-up study 2 1/2 years later. The effect of exposure to organized violence, age , gender, individual vulnerability, parental functioning, and peer relation ships on the children's well-being and adjustment was investigated using mu ltiple and logistic regression analyses. Results: Exposure to war and polit ical violence and individual vulnerability before traumatic stress exposure were important risk factors for long-lasting posttraumatic stress symptoma tology in children. Mothers' emotional well-being predicted emotional well- being in children, whereas children's social adjustment and self-worth were mainly predicted by the quality of their peer relationships. Conclusions: The results underline the fact that refugee children's adaptation is the re sult of a complex process involving several interacting risk and protective factors. For many refugee children, current life circumstances in receivin g host countries, such as peer relationships and exposure to bullying, are of equal or greater importance than previous exposure to organized violence .